...Bier started at the spot his friend had identified and, after only 10 minutes of searching, spotted the 6-foot-long form of a lake sturgeon hovering over the lake bed. Minutes later, he spotted its companion.

I also apologize to the grammar police who missed my earlier mistake when I posted this. The commonly accepted plural of sturgeon is sturgeon when referring to collected fish, and sturgeons when referring to more than one species of sturgeon.

It is possible that I might be spending too much time around grad students.